Department for Transport

Cycleways: Finance

lord allen of kensington: To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of any interest from (1) local authorities, (2) other public bodies, and (3) private sector organisations in providing funding to a national cycle network; and what is the geographical spread of such interested parties.

baroness sugg: A review of the National Cycle Network is currently under way, led by Sustrans but supported by the UK Government and the Devolved Administrations. The review is also considering a wide range of funding sources and how to draw on them. It is for Local Authorities to decide on priorities for local transport investment, including on appropriate sections of the National Cycle Network.

Foreign and Commonwealth Office

Turkey: Politics and Government

lord hylton: To ask Her Majesty's Government what representations they have made to the government of Turkey about the replacement of 98 elected mayors by trustees and the suspension of 259 elected village and neighbourhood mukhtars.

lord ahmad of wimbledon: The Government of Turkey has replaced more than 90 Mayors with trustees on the grounds that those mayors were charged with terror offences. We have not made representations on these specific cases to the Turkish authorities.Local elections in Turkey are scheduled for March 2019, and we will continue to urge that elections be free, fair and inclusive, in line with the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe recommendations.

Pakistan: Human Rights

baroness burt of solihull: To ask Her Majesty's Government what representations they have made, and intend to make, to the government of Pakistan about (1) the arrest of Gulalai Ismail, and (2) ensuring that human rights defenders in Pakistan are able to carry out their work free from persecution by the state.

lord ahmad of wimbledon: We are concerned by restrictions on freedom of expression, including the detention of human rights activists, in Pakistan. The freedom to hold and express views without censorship, intimidation or unnecessary restriction is a cornerstone of democracy. The arrest of Gulalai Ismail is a further worrying development against the backdrop of restrictions on fundamental rights in Pakistan.We regularly raise at a senior level our concerns about the human rights situation with the Government of Pakistan, including on the freedom of expression. I discussed human rights in Pakistan with the Minister for Human Rights, Dr Shireen Mazari, in September 2018. The British Government continues to urge Pakistan to honour in full its human rights obligations.

Gulalai Ismail

baroness whitaker: To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they will make representations to the government of Pakistan to restore the right to travel of Gulalai Ismail who was arrested on her return to Pakistan.

lord ahmad of wimbledon: We are concerned by restrictions on freedom of expression, including the detention of human rights activists, in Pakistan. The freedom to hold and express views without censorship, intimidation or unnecessary restriction is a cornerstone of democracy. The arrest of Gulalai Ismail is a further worrying development against the backdrop of restrictions on fundamental rights in Pakistan.We regularly raise at a senior level our concerns about the human rights situation with the Government of Pakistan, including on the freedom of expression. I discussed human rights in Pakistan with the Minister for Human Rights, Dr Shireen Mazari, in September 2018. The British Government continues to urge Pakistan to honour in full its human rights obligations.

Victor Mallet

lord goodlad: To ask Her Majesty's Government what response they have received from the government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region to their representations about the denial of a visa to the British journalist, Victor Mallet.

lord ahmad of wimbledon: We remain very concerned by the Hong Kong authorities’ unprecedented rejection of a visa for senior British journalist Victor Mallet. In the absence of an explanation from the authorities we can only conclude that this move is politically motivated. This undermines Hong Kong’s freedom of speech and freedom of the press, both guaranteed by the Joint Declaration, and the Basic Law, and increases the pressure on the ‘One Country, Two Systems’ framework. We urge the Hong Kong authorities to reconsider this decision. Confidence in Hong Kong’s rights and freedoms is an essential component of its future success.” We have sought an explanation for the visa refusal from the Hong Kong authorities, but we have not received one.

Indonesia: Religious Freedom

lord garel-jones: To ask Her Majesty's Government whether the Prime Minister’s Special Envoy on Freedom of Religion or Belief on his recent trip to Indonesia raised the situation of the non-religious in that country, as that country does not recognise the right to be a humanist, atheist or agnostic.

lord ahmad of wimbledon: Yes. During my visit to Jakarta I talked about the rights of people of faith and those of no faith during a meeting of representatives of different religious communities, as well as raising the issue of Freedom of Religion or Belief in my meeting with the Minister of Religious Affairs.

Department of Health and Social Care

Rare Diseases: Drugs

viscount waverley: To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to reduce any disparity in access to rare disease medicines between England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.

viscount waverley: To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to reduce any disparity in access to rare disease medicines in England compared with economically similar countries in Europe.

viscount waverley: To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of how many treatments for rare diseases are available in Scotland that are unavailable in England.

viscount waverley: To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the sustainability of the NICE appraisal process for rare disease medicines that do not meet the highly specialised technology criteria.

lord o'shaughnessy: With the aim of improving the lives of all those affected by a rare disease, the United Kingdom Government published The UK Strategy for Rare Diseases in 2013, a high-level framework containing 51 commitments which sets out a seven-year strategic vision from 2013-2020. A copy of the Strategy is attached. The Government is committed to implementing the Strategy’s commitments and has, in January 2018, published two implementation plans setting out its actions for England. Copies of the Department’s The UK Strategy for Rare Diseases: Rare Diseases implementation plan for England and NHS England’s Implementation Plan for the UK Strategy for Rare Diseases are attached.The Government has not made any assessment of differences in access to medicines for the treatment of rare diseases or on the available number of treatments between England, the devolved administrations and economically similar countries in Europe.With regard to the Government’s assessment of the sustainability of the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence’s (NICE) appraisal process for rare disease medicines that do not meet the highly specialised technology criteria, patients with rare diseases in England benefit from the same NHS Constitution right to clinically and cost-effective medicines as patients with more common conditions. NICE has recommended a number of medicines for the treatment of rare diseases through its technology appraisal and highly specialised technology evaluation programmes which are now routinely available to National Health Service patients in line with NICE’s recommendations.



The UK Strategy for Rare Diseases
(PDF Document, 1.88 MB)




UK Strategy for Rare Diseases Implementation Plan
(PDF Document, 232.42 KB)




NHS England Rare Diseases Implementation Plan
(PDF Document, 440.64 KB)

Food Standards Agency

baroness mcintosh of pickering: To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the resources available to the Food Standards Agency to prepare forany additional responsibilities itmay assume post-Brexit.

lord o'shaughnessy: The Government has provided £14 million of funding in 2018/19 to support the Food Standards Agency’s (FSA’s) workstreams relating to the consequences of leaving the European Union, to help the FSA ensure there is a robust regulatory system in place to guarantee food safety, expand the National Food Crime Unit and deliver replacements for EU programmes which carry out food safety risk management functions.

Bradford Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust: GE Healthcare

lord freyberg: To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord O’Shaughnessy on 29 October (HL10764), whether they will publish Bradford NHS Trust’s Data Protection Impact Assessment in respect of the collaboration between the Bradford NHS Trust and GE Healthcare Providers.

lord o'shaughnessy: Any decision around publication of the Data Protection Impact Assessment is a matter for the Trust.

Bradford Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust: GE Healthcare

lord freyberg: To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer byLord O'Shaughnessy on 29 October (HL10764), whether the collaboration between Bradford Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust and GE Healthcare Providers is the first deal of this type between an NHS trust and GE Healthcare Providers.

lord o'shaughnessy: We are not aware of any other deals of this type between a National Health Service trust and GE Healthcare Providers.

Department for Education

English Baccalaureate

lord allen of kensington: To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans, if any, they have to introduce to the English Baccalaureate (EBacc) a greater emphasis on STEAM subjects; and what consideration they have given to including qualifications in design to count towards the EBacc.

lord agnew of oulton: The government has no plans to change the EBacc. It has been designed to be limited in size in order to allow pupils to continue to study additional subjects that reflect their individual interests and strengths. The subjects that make up the EBacc are based on the subjects which the Russell Group says at A level open more doors to more degrees at their universities. They provide a basis for a variety of careers beyond the age of 16. They give pupils a broad general knowledge that will enable them to participate in and contribute to society.The government introduced the EBacc as a school performance measure in 2010 to encourage schools to enter more pupils for the core academic subjects of English, maths, science, history or geography and a language. Entries to the science component of the EBacc have increased from 63% in 2010 to 95% in 2018.Under the new national curriculum, design and technology (D&T) remains a compulsory subject in all maintained schools during key stage 3, and schools are required to offer it at key stage 4. We have worked with organisations such as the James Dyson Foundation and the Royal Academy of Engineering to reform the D&T GCSE and curriculum. The new GCSE was first taught in September 2017. It is now a subject which has been updated from its craft-based routes to a cutting-edge qualification, focusing on iterative design processes which are at the core of contemporary practice.

Higher Education: Admissions

baroness royall of blaisdon: To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the case for providing higher education providers with access to free school meals data at the start of the undergraduate admissions cycle as part of measures to widen access to higher education.

viscount younger of leckie: Widening participation is a priority for this government. We want to ensure that everyone with talent and potential to succeed in higher education has the opportunity to do so, regardless of background, ethnicity or where they grew up. Higher education institutions play an important role in achieving this goal through their outreach and widening participation work.Government has already made available school level data on pupils eligible for free school meals through the ‘Find and compare schools in England’ service and I encourage universities to make use of this. This is available at: https://www.compare-school-performance.service.gov.uk/.Universities should also continue to work directly with schools and third sector organisations to spot and nurture talent early. I have asked Department for Education officials to look at ways the department can support the sector, to identify talented pupils and to help assist in targeting outreach activity.

Higher Education: Admissions

baroness royall of blaisdon: To ask Her Majesty's Government what criteria they will use to measure the effectiveness of the mechanisms for meeting the new access and participation targets proposed by the Office for Students.

viscount younger of leckie: The Office for Students (OfS), as the new independent regulator for higher education, has recently consulted the sector on a new approach to regulating higher education (HE) providers’ progress on widening access and successful participation in HE. The OfS is expected to respond to the consultation later this year.We would expect the OfS to keep any new approach under review, to assess its effectivenes in achieving our goals for improved access and participation in HE by under-represented groups.The OfS brings together the levers of both funding and the arrangements for agreeing and monitoring Higher Education providers’ Access and Participation plans to seek continuous improvement in this area. OfS also now has access to a range of sanctions to address concerns about a lack of progress on access and participation.

Apprentices: Taxation

lord wigley: To ask Her Majesty's Government how much funding from the apprenticeship levy was made available to Welsh police forces and the Welsh Government in the last financial year.

lord agnew of oulton: Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland will receive their share of the apprenticeship levy calculated in line with the Barnett formula. This will be £460 million for the period 2019 to 2020. Wales received £128 million in the period 2017 to 2018. Skills, including apprenticeships, is a devolved matter. Therefore, it will be for the devolved administrations to decide how funds raised from the levy should be used in their administrations.

Ministry of Justice

Coroners: Armed Forces

lord allen of kensington: To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to instruct coroners to record whether a victim of suicide had been a serving or former member of the armed forces.

lord keen of elie: The Government has addressed this issue in its response to the current e-petition on the recording of veterans’ suicides. A revised response was published on 30 October 2018. A copy of the response is attached.



E-Petition
(Word Document, 22.61 KB)

Offenders: Employment

lord bradley: To ask Her Majesty's Government how many people of working age leaving prison obtained employment following release in the last year for which information is available.

lord keen of elie: Based on matched MOJ-DWP data on the proportion of working age adult offenders released from prison in 2011/12, 17% were in employment 12 months after release from custody.More recent data from 2014/15 indicates that at a national level, 26.5% of prisoners were entering employment upon release, but this data was self-reported and we don’t have a split in this rate for length of sentence served.

Reoffenders

lord bradley: To ask Her Majesty's Government how many recorded failures by individuals on release from prison on temporary licence were the result of suspected further offences in (1) 2017, and (2) 2018 to date.

lord keen of elie: There were more than 350,000 incidences of release on temporary licence (ROTL) in 2017, over 99% of which were completed without a failure on any kind. Out of these there were 11 recorded failures by individuals on release from prison on temporary licence as a result of alleged offending in 2017. The latest data available shows that there were 4 recorded failures for this reason up to 30 June 2018.

Prisoners' Release

lord bradley: To ask Her Majesty's Government how many people were granted compassionate release from prison on the grounds of ill-health in (1) 2017, and (2) 2018 to date.

lord keen of elie: The number of prisoners granted early release on compassionate grounds for reasons of ill-health in 2017 and 2018 to date are as follows: 201772018 to date14TOTAL21These figures have been drawn from internal records and the Public Protection Unit Database in HM Prison and Probation Service. As with any large scale recording systems, they are subject to possible errors with data migration and data processing.

National Tactical Response Group

lord bradley: To ask Her Majesty's Government how many times the National Offenders Management Service's National Tactical Response Group was deployed in (1) 2017, and (2) 2018 to date.

lord keen of elie: The National Tactical Response Group (NTRG) provides additional support staff or resources to prisons to help them deal with a variety of incidents. The figures provided include incidents where the situation was resolved locally prior to National Tactical Response Groups arrival In 2017 and 2018, NTRG were deployed the following times:2017 – 5472018 – 475* *data accurate up to 31/8/18, the most recently available dataNote, this figures include deployments to Immigration Removal Centres as required.

Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government

High Street Review

lord kennedy of southwark: To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the impact of the Portas Review on UK high streets.

lord bourne of aberystwyth: The Portas Review was published in December 2011, and the Government accepted all but one of the 28 recommendations. This included establishing 27 Portas Pilots. Following the Portas Pilots, the Government helped established over 330 Town Teams, each with £10,000 of funding.We recognise that consumer behaviour has changed since 2011. We are taking action to help the high street evolve. That is why we have set out an ambitious Action Plan in the Autumn Budget, to support the sustainable transformation of high streets.

Ministry of Defence

Armed Forces: Surveys

lord west of spithead: To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of (1) the most recent armed forces continuous attitude survey, and(2) any dissatisfaction within the Royal Marines revealed in that survey.

earl howe: The Armed Forces Continuous Attitude Survey (AFCAS) provides long standing and valuable data on understanding how Service personnel feel about key issues. This evidence helps to inform the development of people policies and processes across Defence and within the individual Services. The AFCAS results are reviewed by the Defence Board, Service Chiefs and throughout Defence to identify key issues and to consider how they can be addressed. The Department recognises that the 2018 results show further decreases in the morale of our Service personnel and is taking steps to address those concerns and to enhance the positive aspects and experiences of Service life. Issues previously identified in the AFCAS have already informed the development of a range of programmes under way across Defence and the single Services including Flexible Service, the Future Accommodation Model and the Enterprise Approach. The leadership of the Royal Marines visits units on a regular basis and takes trends in morale extremely seriously. The Royal Marines Chain of Command will consider the findings of AFCAS 2018 carefully and work with members of the Royal Marine Corps to better understand the causes of any changes in attitudes. In addition, the Royal Marines will continue to run focussed engagement events to attempt to understand changes in attitudes in more detail.

Department for Work and Pensions

Universal Credit

baroness lister of burtersett: To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they plan to publish any equality impact assessment of the managed migration of Universal Credit; and if so, when.

baroness buscombe: DWP published an equality impact assessment for Universal Credit in 2011, a copy of which is attached. As we have noted in our response to the Social Security Advisory Committee, we have now announced that testing for the managed migration will commence in July 2019, we will test and refine our processes on a small scale to ensure that they are working well before we take on larger volumes from 2020, completing the process by the end of 2023. We are conducting detailed Equality Assessments of migration plans as part of our Public Sector Equality Duty. This process is iterative, and so the impacts of the testing will be fully evaluated with equality impacts reassessed in accordance with the evaluation results. So it can take into account the learning and adaptations we make following the testing phase we will publish an assessment of the impacts of managed migration prior to increasing the scaling of managed migration.



UC Equality Impact Assessment
(PDF Document, 196.81 KB)

Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

Eggs: Imports

baroness redfern: To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to ensure that eggs imported from non-EU countries will be subject to the UK’s high hen welfare standards post-Brexit.

lord gardiner of kimble: The Government is proud of this country’s high standards of food safety and animal welfare, including for farm animals. Our current high standards, including import requirements, will apply when we leave the EU. As part of our commitment to being a world leader in animal welfare we will use our independent seat in international fora such as the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) to push for stronger global standards.

Genetically Modified Organisms: Crops

baroness deech: To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the impact of the ruling of the Court of Justice of the European Union on 25 July that gene-edited crops should be subject to the same EU regulations as conventional genetically modified organisms on (1) the UK plant biotechnology sector, and (2) the availability of Horizon 2020 funding for plant technology research; and what plans they have, if any, to mitigate any impact.

lord gardiner of kimble: The Government intervened in the Court of Justice case because it considered that gene-edited crops should not be subject to the same regulations as conventional genetically modified organisms. Our view is that gene-edited organisms should not be subject to GM regulation if the changes made to their DNA could have occurred naturally or through traditional breeding methods. We recognise that gene-editing has the potential to make farming more productive and sustainable and that the UK plant biotechnology sector could be a leading player. We were therefore disappointed in the Court’s judgment and the impact it will have on innovation. The judgement is binding in the UK. However, our departure from the EU could give us the opportunity to take a different regulatory approach in due course. Whilst this may depend on the terms of any agreement that is reached with the EU on future arrangements, it is something that we want to consider. The draft Withdrawal Agreement envisages that UK participants will be eligible to bid for Horizon 2020 funding for the duration of the programme, including after the UK’s withdrawal from the EU. Projects that are successful in the bidding process will be entitled to receive EU funding for their lifetime. The Government’s priority remains ensuring that the draft Withdrawal Agreement is finalised and concluded. We are planning for every eventuality. The two major components of our planning in a scenario where the Withdrawal Agreement is not ratified (a “no deal” scenario) are the Government’s underwrite guarantee and the post-departure extension to the guarantee. These mechanisms would ensure cross-border collaboration could continue after we leave the EU.

Trees: Disease Control

lord patten: To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the need to increase resilience against threats of disease to ash and oak trees in Somerset, Devon and Cornwall; and what plans they have to provide such resilience.

lord gardiner of kimble: Defra is committed to protecting our trees from pests and diseases and building the resilience of our trees, woods and forests. In May we published a new Tree Health Resilience Strategy. The strategy sets out a joint action plan for how government and others can work together to address threats to tree health, including threats to ash and oak nationally. One example of joint action is Action Oak, a hugely important partnership of charities, landowners and government, proactively working together to protect and conserve our oak trees for future generations.

Home Office

British Nationality: Children

baroness lister of burtersett: To ask Her Majesty's Government how many children have had their applications for British citizenship denied because they failed the good character test in each of the last five years for which information is available.

baroness williams of trafford: The available published information on the total number of decisions to refuse applications for British citizenship where the applicant is found to be not of good character for applicants of all ages are published in Home Office’s Immigration Statistics, year ending June 2018, Citizenship tables cz_09 (Refusals of citizenship by reason) available from https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/immigration-statistics-year-ending-june-2018/list-of-tables#citizenship The table below provides figures for the last 5 calendar years.Refusals of British citizenship by reasonReason for refusal20132014201520162017Incomplete applications68772825412852Parent not a British citizen553510749931300Not of good character2,2951,0954,5245,5253,119Delay in replying to enquiries from UKVI4231,2341,2541,6981,319Residence2,2641,2242,8252,6321,659Oath not taken in time061491Insufficient Knowledge of English and KOL62489531673720Other536423495996544Total refusals6,8205,70910,64612,5927,714British already375383312496598Withdrawn7482125220120Total refused or withdrawn7,2696,17411,08313,3088,432Rejected applications97815251,852838Source: Home Office, Migration Border Analysis.Immigration Statistics year to June 2018 - subset of table cz_09.

Home Office: Brexit

lord wigley: To ask Her Majesty's Government how much funding has been allocated to the Home Office by way of Brexit transition finance; and how much of this has been allocated to policing.

baroness williams of trafford: The allocation from HMT for the preparation work required in 2018-19 was published in Hansard https://hansard.parliament.uk/commons/2018-03-13/debates/18031349000006/SpringStatementNo resource from the EU Exit allocation has been allocated to policing



Spring Statement - March 2018 
(PDF Document, 577.16 KB)

Migrant Camps: Greek Islands

lord hylton: To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer byBaroness Williams of Trafford on 23 October (HL10488), what improvements have been made to living conditions in refugee camps in the Greek Aegean islands, in particular the Moria Camp, as a result of the provision of exports from the UK.

baroness williams of trafford: The Greek Government is responsible for running the camps on the Aegean islands and for the humanitarian response. UK support in Greece is part of a wider EU effort in coordination with the EU Commission and other EU Member States.UK expert staff are seconded to the EU Commission office in Athens to support its efforts in working with Greece to improve living and security conditions for migrants in the camps on the island hotspots.On the running of the camps, UK experts advise on the implementation of camp operating procedures through working with the relevant Greek authorities to deliver a safe, secure, healthy and clean environment for the camp population. They also provide recommendations and reports on security and safety related issues including: evacuation plans, emergency exits and staff security.

Cabinet Office

Public Sector: Billing

lord mendelsohn: To ask Her Majesty's Government what is their assessment of the impact on small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) of the requirementto pursue claims against public authorities in the courts in order to claim statutory interest and compensation; and what plans they have to improve access to interest and compensation owed to SMEs by public authorities due to late payment.

lord mendelsohn: To ask Her Majesty's Government what is their assessment of the impact of small and medium-sized enterprises assigning their rights to pursue late payment claims against public authorities for statutory interest and compensation.

lord young of cookham: The Government understands the importance of prompt, fair and effective payment in all businesses, especially small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) who may not have the cash reserves of larger companies. Suppliers can claim statutory interest where a public sector buyer has not paid an undisputed and valid invoice within the contractual payment terms, where the contract does not otherwise provide for the payment of interest. Statutory guidance for public sector buyers and suppliers on paying undisputed, valid invoices within 30 days down the public sector supply chain came into force on 26 February 2015. Public sector buyers must include 30 day payment terms in all public contracts and must ensure that their prime contractor includes equivalent 30 day payment terms in any subcontracts through the supply chain. The Government encourages businesses to report poor payment practice and instances of late payment in public sector contracts in breach of contract terms, including late payment in the supply chain, to its Mystery Shopper service.

Public Sector: Billing

lord mendelsohn: To ask Her Majesty's Government what guidance they provide to public authorities to ensure that suppliers who pursue late payment claims against them are not disadvantaged in future public procurement exercises with those authorities.

lord young of cookham: Guidance for central government departments, including their Executive Agencies and Non Departmental Public Bodies on prompt payment policy is available in Procurement Policy Note – Prompt Payment Policy and Reporting of Performance: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/procurement-policy-note-0515-prompt-payment-and-performance-reporting If a supplier feels that they are being disadvantaged in a procurement exercise having made a late payment claim against the contracting authority, contrary to relevant laws, they should raise this issue with the government’s Mystery Shopper service.

Census: Travellers

baroness whitaker: To ask Her Majesty's Government whether the next census in England and Wales will separate Gypsies and Travellers into two categories.

lord young of cookham: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the Authority to reply.



UKSA response 
(PDF Document, 70.51 KB)

Non-departmental Public Bodies

lord wigley: To ask Her Majesty's Government what guidance, if any, they have given to employees of non-departmental public bodies about their rights to express concerns about the impact of Brexit on their ability to perform their roles successfully.

lord young of cookham: No guidance has been provided on the rights of NDPB employees to raise concerns specifically about EU Exit. We would expect NDPB employees to be able to raise any such concerns through their organisation’s existing systems, as they would any other issue that may affect them. Policy and products about whistle-blowing and raising a concern have been made available to Civil Service departments. The products include a specific policy and FAQs for employees of Non-Departmental Public bodies (NDPBs). The guidance encourages employees of NDPBs to report perceived wrongdoing within their organisation, including a breach of the organisation's core values. An employee should raise these types of concern with their line manager straight away. If the employee feels that it is not appropriate to raise a concern with their manager, they can raise it with another senior manager or directly with a Nominated Officer within their parent department. Concerns can be raised confidentially and investigations will be conducted sensitively and as quickly as possible.

Government Departments: Procurement

lord myners: To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they intend to commission a review into the benefit of adopting the recommendations on government procurement made in The Efficiency Review by Sir Philip Green, published in 2010.

lord young of cookham: We have implemented the key recommendations on public sector procurement made by the Efficiency Review in 2010. There are no current plans to review these recommendations. However, best practice guidance for public sector procurement is regularly published as procurement policy notes on GOV.UK at the following link: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/procurement-policy-notes

Department for International Trade

Arms Trade: Saudi Arabia

the marquess of lothian: To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they have raised the possibility of the suspension of UK arms exports to Saudi Arabia with the government of Saudi Arabia at any time since 2 October 2018.

baroness fairhead: The UK Government regularly raises the importance of compliance with international humanitarian law with the government of Saudi Arabia. The key test for the Government for our continued military exports to Saudi Arabia in relation to International Humanitarian Law (IHL) is whether there is a clear risk that those items might be used in the commission of a serious violation of IHL.

Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport

Mobile Phones: Data Protection

the marquess of lothian: To ask Her Majesty's Government what action they are taking to ensure that mobile phone users are fully aware of the extent to which their data may be harvested and shared by mobile phone applications.

lord ashton of hyde: The Data Protection Act places an obligation on all organisations, including those that make mobile phone applications, to be clear about how they process individuals’ personal data and ensure that any consent obtained for its use is clear, unambiguous and purposeful. This information, along with individuals’ rights under the Data Protection Act, should be set out clearly in a privacy notice. The Information Commissioner regulates and enforces the Data Protection Act and has a number of tools available to ensure compliance with data protection rules which include criminal prosecution, non-criminal enforcement and audits. For those who commit serious breaches there are significant financial penalties including fines up to £18 million or 4% of global turnover that can be applied as well as the backstop of criminal prosecution.

Digital Technology: Travellers

baroness whitaker: To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they intend to respond to the report by Friends, Family and Travellers, Digital Exclusion in Gypsy and Traveller communities in the United Kingdom, published in September.

lord ashton of hyde: We are committed to tackling digital exclusion and the UK Digital Strategy, published in March 2017, describes the steps we are taking across government, including establishing the Digital Skills Partnership, which brings together stakeholders from the private, public and charity sectors to join efforts to help people increase their digital skills at all levels; introducing fully-funded basic digital skills training for adults lacking these vital skills from 2020; and using the 3000 libraries across England to provide a trusted network of accessible locations with trained staff and volunteers, free Wi-Fi, computers, and other technology as well as Assisted Digital access to a wide range of digital public services where individuals are unable for whatever reason to access these services independently. The Race Disparity Audit showed us Roma, Gypsy and Traveller communities are amongst the most disadvantaged in British society and we agree that more needs to be done to make sure nobody is excluded or left behind. The Government funds the Future Digital Inclusion programme managed by the Good Things Foundation and delivered through the 3,000 strong Online Centres network. To date this programme has supported over 800,000 adult learners to develop their basic digital skills, many of whom are socially excluded. The NHS Digital Widening Digital Participation programme, delivered in partnership with Good Things Foundation, develops projects that enable people in England to improve their digital health skills and to increase their access to digital services and tools that support their health and care. Partnership working is at the heart of this programme. In order to better understand the needs of those with low literacy (including low health & digital literacy), NHS Digital regularly works with national and local organisations who know them best and really understand the barriers and challenges for them with getting online. The UK Digital Strategy, published in 2017, states that one of the Government's objectives is to 'enable people in every part of society - irrespective of age, gender, physical ability, ethnicity, health conditions, or socio-economic status - to access the opportunities of the internet', and to deliver this, the Government will focus on 'ensuring that we continue to tackle the root causes of digital exclusion and that everyone can increase their digital capability to make the most of the digital world.'

Loneliness: Voluntary Work

lord stevenson of balmacara: To ask Her Majesty's Government when they will publish further information on the pilot tests for new models of flexible and inclusive volunteering opportunities announced in the Loneliness Strategy;how many they expect to be operating by 31 March 2019; and which voluntary bodies will be involved.

lord ashton of hyde: The Centre for Ageing Better will publish further information on the flexible volunteering pilots in November 2018. Up to five sites will be launched by March 2019 to test and develop new approaches to age-friendly, flexible and inclusive volunteering.